Election Day 2013
It’s Election Day, peeps. The polls close at 8 pm. Vote!
In Iowa City, four candidates are vying for two at-large seats on the city council. District B’s council representation is also up for grabs, and Measure G, an attempt to repeal IC’s 21-only ordinance, is also on the ballot.
After reading the candidate guest columns in the CRG, watching their statements on City Channel 4 (which is one badass democratic tool), and figuring out that I actually live in District B, I voted for Kingsley Botchway II, Rockne Cole, Royceann Porter, and “No” on G to keep 21-only in place.
To be honest, I thought about voting only for Botchway. Botchway was the only candidate who really impressed me. Having grown up on the southeast side, his belief that the council is too downtown-centric struck a cord with me. Downtown deserves attention, but I feel other parts of the city are overlooked; Botchway would like a city-wide economic plan that benefits everyone. He is a proponent of walkability, fiscal responsibility, budget transparency, and community input. One could not go wrong with Botchway. Cole and Porter, though…
I warmed to Cole because he seems open-minded given his background as an immigration lawyer, and the fact he wants to welcome back those who left IC and wish to return is something I can relate to. But his obsession with The Chauncey, Marc Moen’s proposed twenty-two story tower at the corner of Gilbert and College, was distracting. Also, the fact he is the lawyer for the anti-Chauncey group, Iowa Coalition Against the Shadow, seemed like a massive conflict of interest. I decided to overlook that, hoping, if elected, he would abstain from decisions made regarding the Gilbert/College parcel.
Porter seems like a compassionate woman, and I like that she works with the area’s unfortunate every day at the Shelter House. I felt that she and Botchway were the “everyday people” candidates on the ballot, which is one reason why I voted for her. But Terry Dickens, a current councilor trying to switch seats (at-large to District B), seemed much more knowledgeable regarding the city’s operations and government. (He did not have a Channel 4 statement, which was a strike against him.) When it comes to city council elections, it almost always seems that challengers sound a touch clueless and single-issue oriented when compared to incumbents. Susan Mims also impressed me with her knowledge, and Catherine Champion seemed very well-versed in regards to government operations. (No surprise there. Her mother, Connie, is leaving the council after sixteen years.) Perhaps that is why Iowa Citians rarely unseat incumbents. But I wanted to give Porter a chance to offer a fresh voice and perspective on the council.
Though I waffled regarding the candidates, my support for 21-only has been unwavering. This article in the CRG only bolstered that commitment. Downtown IC has become a much better place. Where there was once drunken debauchery, taps of macro-lager as far as the eye could see, and aggressive machismo, there is now choice, maturity, and a growing diversity of businesses. There are still a handful of bars that cater to the debauch college crowd, and those under twenty-one can still frequent them before 10 pm, but things are much tamer and balanced than before. The doom and gloom predicted three years ago has not materialized, and downtown is better off without the bars that did close. I think the council should tweak the proximity ordinance that restricts the distance between bars, allowing new liquor license establishments to open where they could not before, but 21-only has made a positive impact.
